Does Soybeans Cause Cancer?

In 2005, The Whole Soy Story was published. This book argues that the consumption of soy is linked to malnutrition, digestive problems, and even heart disease and cancer. More specifically, this author argued that some of the isoflavonoiders available in soy is toxic to estrogen sensitive tissue and as estrogen is closely linked to breast cancer, why the author states that there is a potential risk with eating soybeans. A Swedish site called Greatlife.se then took this even further and argued that soy is not to recommend as food at all, and should be avoided entirely (Greatlife). Almost 3 000 people have liked this article.

This is very interesting as an American study from 2012 actually argue that one of the soybean isoflavones actually prevent and inhibit breast cancer (Li & Tollefsbol, 2012). Another interesting fact about this book is that the author of the book was at the time a member of the board of Weston A. Price Foundation (Dr Kaayla Daniel). This foundation is first and foremost advocating the agenda that people have to eat “fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats” (Weston A. Price). This point of view is based on Weston A. Price research, which has been rejected by many others as unscientific (Sciencebasedmedicine.org)

Without going deeper into the subject, we can at least conclude that one should treat the findings in The Whole Soy Story with some reasonable doubt. Further, the Swedish association Läkare för framtiden (doctors for the future) concludes that “normal soy consumption is completely safe and most likely decrease the risk of breast cancer and decrease the risk of recurrence of cancer” (Läkare för framtiden). This organization on the other hand advocate a plant based lifestyle, why we cannot be sure they’re entirely objective. First and foremost one should trust scientific articles based on solid research, and not statements by individual associations. And at least the scientific articles I’ve been able to find say that normal soy consumption prevents rather than cause cancer.

The Two Types of Motivation and Which One To Go For

06 April 2017 | 05:52

I think that a lot of people who work out regularly and have done so for quite some time get the same questions every now and then; “How do you do it?” or “How do you stay motivated?”. So today I thought we’d talk briefly about motivation. Working out regularly is also connected to your habits and not only motivation, but we’ll save habit theory for another time.

So, the first thing to know about motivation is that there are two types of it. First, there is the intrinsic motivation which comes from within and is driven by internal rewards such as that doing something makes you happy or gives a sense of meaning or progress. Second there is extrinsic motivation which comes from the outside and is driven by external rewards such as money, fame, recognition etc. This types of motivation comes from other people or from society as a whole. Avoiding punishment is another example of extrinsic motivation.

I think intrinsic motivation is what most people in general talk about when they say you have to do it for yourself. And I think people who work out because of intrinsic motivations will stay motivated for a longer time. Research within entrepreneurship has for example shown that it is the entrepreneurs who pursue a goal because of intrinsic motivation who will succeed while those only looking for money or recognition will (in general) eventually fail.

The conclusion from this is that if you want to stay motivated to working out, try to find the motivation within yourself. Try to focus on the fact that working out makes you feel good or the progress you make. I’m going to be honest here and confess that I am a person who needs a lot of attention. Not all the time, I could probably spend days by myself out in the forest, but I for example need to hear that I’m doing a good job at school or at my workplace. When it comes to working out however, I don’t need that much attention at all. I go to the gym several times a week without telling anyone about it and without needing any confirmation that I do a good job by doing so. I enjoy sharing my progress every now and then, but if no one cared at all I wouldn’t stop going to the gym because my progress there makes me proud of myself and I kind of don’t need anyone else to be proud too.

The Importance of Disconnecting

01 April 2017 | 05:54

In 2012 researchers at Gothenburg university came to the conclusions that intensive use of mobile phones can be linked to stress, sleep disorders and depressive symptoms. This conclusion further also holds for people using a computer for an extensive period of time without breaks, and/or late at night (GU, 2012). Meanwhile, one in three people actually feel worse after checking their Facebook and more dissatisfied with their lives (Time, 2013) and researchers are suggesting that it might even be the case that we check our social-media gadgets just often enough to get the brain’s addiction center engaged (Forbes, 2013).

I would say that this is extremely troubling. And even worse, I don’t doubt that it’s true. Especially not the addiction part.

In the beginning of this semester I held a key position in one of the associations at my school. This position meant that whenever someone had a question, they would turn to me and at the beginning of the semester there were a lot of questions. And of course I wanted to do a good job, which meant answering as soon as possible. Meanwhile, a lot of information were transmitted at once and if I were to put down my phone for half an hour I would have about ten notifications and two messages. I didn’t mind. I was prepared for that there would be a lot of questions and most of them I could answer without any information search at all.

The problem came afterwards. After these first weeks of the semester everything slowed down again (as expected). The number of questions decreased to max only one a week. There were much fewer notifications. But I continued my behaviour. I was constantly on my phone, constantly ready to answer any question. Despite the fact that no one requested me to always be ready. It didn’t get better with our next group project after that when my group members sometimes sent messages in the middle of the night asking for my opinion. They did not expect me to answer right away, but I was so used to it. So I did.

The next month (February) were horrible. I was crazy stressed; I couldn’t handle it anymore. Not school, not life. And I would lie if I said that this feeling of constantly having to be connected didn’t add to it. So in March I forced myself to slow down and I forced myself to go back to myself. To do what really makes me happy and relaxed.

One of those things is to just go out into the forest with my dog. To just walk straight into nowhere, intentionally get lost and wander for hours. There are few things that calm my soul like that. Like just being alone in the silence of the forest with my absolute best friend.